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by Forthediehards



Category: Top Gun (1986)
Genre: F/M, Ice and Maverick playing brain games, M/M, Past Carole/Goose, or heart games, silly pilots in love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-17
Updated: 2015-05-17
Packaged: 2018-03-30 23:31:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,669
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3956026
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Forthediehards/pseuds/Forthediehards
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Maverick eventually leaves his comfy teaching job at Top Gun to go back home and take care of Carole and Scott. Eventually, Carole wishes to move to New Jersey to get away from the life she no longer has in California. Maverick goes with her because he feels like it's his duty to, and leaves behind any hope he had of rebuilding his own life to make sure Goose's wife and son are well taken care of. That is, of course, until Ice comes waltzing back into his life years down the road.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Home

It was hard to accept that they had gotten older. It was even harder to accept that they hadn’t seen each other in over five years, now. Maverick taught at Top Gun only for a few years before running off to help Carole raise her and Goose’s son.

It wasn’t his responsibility, but he did care deeply for both of them, and he knew Goose would be more than thankful for Maverick’s efforts. It just didn’t seem right for the boy to be raised without a father, and even though Maverick was far from that, he was something at least. A rock, if nothing else. A constant. And sometimes a source of income when the going got rough.

Eventually, Carole wanted to move to the East Coast - somewhere up North where the weather was brisk and snowy and nothing reminded her of Goose. Maverick was reluctant to leave, but he did nonetheless.

He came back every year to see his friends, have a beer or two with Viper or shoot some pool with Hollywood and Wolfman. Sometimes they were too busy for him,

But there was always one person who cleared his schedule for Maverick, no questions asked. It was Iceman. 

Maverick would show up unannounced at his home near the beach, knock on the door with purpose until it finally opened. Ice would raise an eyebrow upon seeing Maverick, smile, invite him inside and promptly make seven phone calls to cancel all of his engagements for the next two days.

It became comfortable. They would have dinner, watch cheesy movies at the drive-in, and then they’d go back to Ice’s place and have a lot sex until the sun came up. Carole would always joke when Maverick returned home that he sure did travel far just to have a good lay, but she knew the same truth that Maverick was having a hard time accepting deep down. He was in love with Ice, and the longer they stayed apart, the harder it was on him. She told him it wasn’t fair, and that he should move back to California. He agreed.

But he never left. He had to take care of her, and take care of Scott.

One year, Carole lost her job and Maverick had to cancel his annual trip back to California so he could work extra hours and bring in money for the house hold. She eventually found a job after about three months of unemployment and tried to pay Maverick back for what he had provided and of course, he wouldn’t accept it. Carole and Scott were his family, and he would go to the ends of the Earth to make sure they were taken care of.

The following year, Maverick broke his leg in a motorcycle accident and was forced once more to cancel his trip. He didn’t call Ice, and Ice didn’t call him either. He tried to pretend it didn’t make his heart ache.

The third year was Scott’s first in high school, and the damned kid was so good at everything. He was on the football team, and he played in many extracurricular sports after classes. His grades were constant A’s, no matter the course. Goose would have been so proud. This meant, however, that Maverick became responsible for toting Scott around, and he made sure he was at every single game no matter how inconvenient it made things at work. He skipped his trip to California again, this time leaving a message on Ice’s answering machine.

He never called back.

The last two years went by in such a blur that Maverick couldn’t even keep up. He hardly thought about going back to California, though he did constantly think about Ice. Carole urged him to leave every chance that she got, but Maverick refused. Scott was old enough to take care of himself now, and even without Maverick’s financial help, they could live a comfortable lives on their own, but they were his family. His only family. He wouldn’t dare leave.

Now it had been five years since the last time he saw Ice, and for all intents and purposes, talked to him. It was far too late to start taking trips back to California now, and the lack of phone calls from Ice obviously meant he was over Maverick and whatever screwed-up relationship they held.

That’s why Maverick nearly threw up once he heard a knock at the door one night and opened it to see none other than Tom Kazansky standing on his porch. His heart froze in his chest, and all he could do was gape stupidly at Iceman as he tried to find words.

Ice smiled, let himself in the door and grabbed hold of Maverick’s shoulders, pushing him against the wall. “Was starting to think you’d forgotten about me.” He explained softly, and that familiar ache came rushing back to Maverick’s heart.

“No, I was just so busy…I’m sorry…”

Ice held a hand up to silence him, and he looked anything but upset.

“Make me some dinner and we’ll call it even. I’ve got news anyway.”

So Maverick made dinner. Just as they sat down to eat, it began to snow outside. Ice was fascinated, having never seen much in his life since he’d only been born up North before being whisked away to California.

“Yeah, I guess they were calling for a storm tonight. It shouldn’t be too bad.” Maverick said dismissively as he placed a plate of spaghetti down in front of Ice. He took the seat directly across the table and twirled the noodles with his fork. He was nervous, yet undeniably comfortable at the same time. He stole a glance up at Ice and his heart clenched a bit to see the wrinkles beginning to form on his skin. He certainly looked older, perhaps he aged even more than Maverick had, but he still looked as amazing as ever.

“So what was this news you had for me?”

Ice stuffed a forkful of spaghetti into his mouth, letting out a contented moan as the flavors of the sauce seemed to satisfy him. He chased it down with a sip of some water before answering Maverick’s question. “Right. I just wanted to let you know that I moved here a few days ago. Two streets over from you, actually. Wasn’t on purpose, but it worked out pretty well, didn’t it?”

Maverick’s eyes widened in surprise. That was the last thing he had expected to hear, but something about it made his heart leap into his throat.

“Well, that was a bit sudden, wasn’t it? What made you come up here?” He asked casually, hoping he didn’t sound too excited or overeager. Ice frowned.

“Well, I was born in Jersey, though I never really got a chance to live here. And I missed you, Mav.”

That was even more unexpected, and the fork slipped from Maverick’s grasp in shock. He startled as it hit against the plate with a loud clanking noise and cleared his throat.

“But, I tried calling a few times and…”

“I know. That was shitty of me, and I’m sorry.” Ice interjected, patting at his lips with his napkin before folding his hands in front of him. “I never blamed you for not coming back. I knew you were busy, with Carole and with Scott…work, life, what have you. I was just sad that you had found a life here without me in it. Finally, I knew I had to come here or else I’d lose you forever. I couldn’t ask you to leave them, and you’d never ask me to leave my life in California just to come be with you. I know you.”

Maverick could only nod in response, because Ice was right. In fact, the thought of asking Ice to move here had never even crossed his mind. His guilt grew stronger.

“I had wanted to move here endgame, anyway. So if you’ll have me again, Maverick, I’d like to be yours.”

The rest of the night had gone in a similar fashion. They talked about old times, new times, and the events that had gone on during the five year absence. Eventually it had fallen into something comfortable and familiar, and before they knew it, it was well past nine PM and they had already finished an entire bottle of wine. Carole had come home only a few hours ago with Scott, but they had both departed for bed after exchanging formal greetings with Ice.

Ice had mentioned something about needing to get home and unpack some more, but that he would call Maverick in the morning. Maverick was admittedly a bit disappointed, but he understood. As they got to the door, they were both shocked to see over a foot of snow on the ground. Ice had smiled and said something silly about fate and other things that Maverick didn’t quite believe in before stepping back inside.

Just like old times, they put on a few cheesy movies and cuddled close on the couch. Maverick found himself more engrossed in listening to Ice’s heartbeat, and similarly, Ice occupied himself with the sound of Maverick’s breathing instead of the movies, but they continued to put more on nonetheless. When it reached one in the morning, Maverick finally took Ice up into his bedroom so they could get some sleep.

They made love twice; first needy and desperate while the second time was slow, steady, and loving. They finally fell asleep just as the sun was peeking out over the horizon, wrapped tightly in each other’s embrace. They still had some things they needed to piece together, but they would be okay. For the first time since Goose’s death, Maverick felt like he was getting his life back together.

How funny it was to think that a man who had been his greatest competition in their younger years would be the one person he simply could not live without when they grew older.

**Author's Note:**

> Written for a prompt I got on Tumblr almost two years ago. It barely skimmed the prompt, (Person A comes to Person B's house for dinner and ends up getting snowed in), but I'm overall pretty happy with how it turned out!


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